Patent GB-836378-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to printing machines
Inventor: HUEBER CARL JOSEPH
IPC: B41L45/02
Filed: 1957-10-11
Abstract: 836,378. Printing machines. ADDRESSOGRAPH-MULTIGRAPH CORPORATION. Oct. 11, 1957. No. 31845/57. Classes 100(1), 100(2) and 100(4) A hand-operated series printing machine comprises a frame having a guideway for the printing plates extending along the top from front to rear, supply and collecting magazines for the plates at the rear and front respectively of the frame, an anvil on the frame at the printing position and a platen arm pivotally mounted on the frame rearwardly of the printing position, a one-piece cover being removably mounted on the frame and having openings at the printing position and for the supply magazine. The frame comprises two side bars 51L, 51R, Figs. 2, 3, 18, spaced laterally by the anvil A and by a bar 52 to which they are secured by bolts 53. 54. At its rear end the frame is supported by a U-shaped member 55 secured to the side bars and carrying a resilient foot 55F. At its front end it is supported by resilient feet 63F attached to a cross-bar 63 secured to the lower end of the collecting magazine 36. The magazine 36 is open towards the front and built up of stampings secured to the anvil. Its bottom 61 upon which the printing plates drop is attached to a spring-supported lever 61R pivoted on a shaft 91 jcurnalled in the member 55. The supply magazine 35 comprises two U- shaped stampings 35L, 35R welded at their lower ends to the side-bars. To feed the plates reciprocating feed-bars 66 are mounted in grooves 65 in the inside top edges of the side-bars. The bars 66 are recessed some distance from their rear ends to form shoulders 66S, Fig. 10, so that when the bars are in their rearward position the lowermost printing plate in the supply magazine falls in front of the shoulders and is pushed forward during the forward movement of the bars. Two pawls 70, 71 are mounted in recesses in the bars 66, and these together with the shoulders form a three-stage feeding means whereby the plates are fed from the magazine 35, moved into printing position above the anvil A, and finally discharged into the magazine 36. The bars 66 are connected near their rear ends by a bar 69 having a central rotatable section 69C carrying a radial bar 87<SP>1</SP>, Fig. 4, on which is adjustably mounted a block 88 pivoted to a lever 90 fixed to the shaft 91. Links 100, 103, Fig. 2, connect the shaft 91 to a lever 98, Fig. 18, pivoted on a boss 95R formed on the right-hand arm 55S of the U-shaped member 55. The lever 98 is oscillated from the platen arm 34 to effect feeding of the plates or skipping, and may be. disconnected from the arm for repeat printing as described below. Pivoted about vertical axes on the side bar 51R are pawls 80, 80<SP>1</SP>, Fig. 4. which engage notches in the print- 'ing plates to position them and prevent overthrow at the successive stages of their feed movement. The platen arm 34, which during assembly is fitted after the cover 42, Fig. 23, is placed in position, is a stamping of U-shape with two legs 34L, 34R and a cross part 34H, the latter carrying the platen proper 33 and having an operating handle H attached thereto. The parts 34L, 34R, 34H are of U-section, and the legs are pivoted on pins 200 detachably fitted in the bosses 95L, 95R on the U-shaped member 55 of the frame, the pins being secured by springs 202 engaging grooves therein. A pawl 210 mounted in the leg 34R can be held in engagement with a recess 98N in the lever 98 by a spring 215 engaging a notch 210N in the pawl so that the parts 34, 98 are operatively connected; by turning the pawl 210 by means of a fingerpiece 212 attached to the pawl pivot 211, the spring 215 can be caused to snap into another notch 210N so as to disconnect the pawl from the lever for repeat printing. The other leg 34L carries a pin 20S which engages a recess 118S in the upper end of a lever 118 pivoted on the boss 95L, the lever 118 operating ink-ribbon mechanism as described below if such mechanism is provided for printing from reverse-reading printing plates. For direct reading printing plates, the platen 33 is formed as an ink-containing surface as described in U.S.A. Specifications 2,189,756 and 2,620,730. The cover 42 has, in addition to the opening 242 for the sunply magazine 35, cutaway parts 442, 342 near the front to accommodate the collecting magazine 36 and a detachable upper ink-ribbon guard 170. It is secured to the base 40 by lugs 165 therein which slide into lugs struck up from the sides of the magazine 36 and by screws passed through openings 168 into threaded sockets in the side bars 51L, 51R. The upper ink-ribbon guard 170 and a somewhat similar guard beneath the ribbon are cut away at 170C in the printing area and have windows 170W whereby the index card of a printing plate in printing position is exposed to view. Skipping. The mechanism operating the feed bars 66 is adjusted so that a full platen stroke for printing moves the shoulders 66S well to the rear of the magazine 35 so that by limiting the downward movement of the platen arm, feeding of a plate can be effected without printing. Feeding sheets. Each sheet to be printed is aligned against a bar 180, Fig. 1 (not shown) carried by rods 181 each extending through a lug 182 the stem of which passes through a bracket 184 and an opening in the cover 42 and is pulled downwardly by a spring 188. The lug holds the rod frictionally against an upturned flange 184F on the bracket 184, permitting adjustment of the bar 180 to the desired position. Ink-ribbon mechanism. The ink-ribbon IR, which extends slightly obliquely across the machine, is carried by two spools 120L, 120R, Figs. 4, 17, on shafts 125L, 125R which have slotted ends 132 extending through holes in the cover whereby they can be rotated by a screwdriver. The shafts are mounted in brackets 121L, 121R attached to the anvil A and carry spring-urged plates 126 bearing against the brackets to provide friction braking means. An intermittent automatically reversible feed for the ribbon comprises ratchet wheels 124L, 124R on the shafts engaged by one or other of two studs 140L, 140R on a lengthwise reciprocated bar 140. Near its centre the bar has a'kidney-shaped aperture 147, Figs. 20, 21, engaged by a pin 145 on a lever 142 pivoted about a spindle 141, and its lower edge is cut away to form a tooth 140T engaged by a roller 150 carried by a bar 143 slidable along the lever 142 and urged upwardly by a spring 153. The lever 142 is oscillated by movement of the platen arm 34 acting through the lever 118 and intermediate levers on a link 155 attached to the lever 142. With the parts in the position shown in Figs. 17, 20, the action of the roller 150 on the bar 140 causes the bar to tilt so as to bring the pin 140L into operative engagement with the ratchet wheel 124L so that the ribbon is wound on the spool 120L. When winding is complete, the reciprocating movement of the bar 140 is arrested and on the next swing of the lever 142, the pin 145 cams the bar 140 and therefore the roller 150 downwardly, so that the roller 150 moves to the other side of the tooth 140T and the pin 145 moves into the other end of the slot 147 thus tilting the bar 140 so that the pin 140L is disengaged and the pin 140R moves into driving relationship with the ratchet wheel 124R to reverse the feed.